A pretty winter bird- the cardinal

When I was a young girl, (in Toronto), we used to have a male cardinal that frequented our yard in the winter. His pretty song was what caught my attention, and by following it to the source I was amazed to see such a beautiful bird. He became my harbinger of Christmas.

This is a cute little Christmas gift card I designed on my computer. Not exactly Hi-tech, but I like the way it turned out. (It's hard enough to draw with a mouse, let alone my handicapped one, so the design was deliberately simple.

It's been too many years since I've seen or heard a cardinal, but this adorable, and hardy little bird comes to my mind as the snowy season draws near.

It's spring time!

I love spring... don't you?

especially the return of my feathered friends.

The air is alive with their voices and

presence.

There's been a noisy pair of kestrels flying around across

the road at the campground, I think they have a nest there.

I watched the male kestrel chase a bald eagle,

away from there last weekend. It was quite thrilling.

I tried to see where the nest is, but got worried

the campers might think I'm some crazy lady

gawking at trees from the road.

*Note to self- get a good pair of binoculars.*

Mountain chickadees and nuthatches have

been coming to the feeder in Spike's pen,

but the junkos have moved on and the pine siskins

have arrived to take their place.

I've been watching a pair of ravens and I think

they may be building a nest in one of the huge cedar trees

out front... I'm hoping.

I know they're noisy, and my family will be annoyed,

but I do enjoy them.

These huge, black birds are so interesting, social and entertaining.

It'd be fascinating to watch them through a whole breeding season.

We've had noisy stellar's jays, robins (that wake us up at 4am), and tapping woodpeckers, then there's those red squirrels and their endless chatter. It's not so quiet living out in the country.

Every year we seem to have new "neighbours", that bring life,

interest and challenges. (Like the stellar's jays that built their nest on top of our step ladder...right beside the garage/studio door!)

So... maybe this year we'll share a summer with the ravens.

If you don't feel like I do, there's a lot of suggestions on-line

on how to get crows to stay away...

Here's a couple of links:

How to get rid of things has some good ideas.

A CD that keeps them away (about $20.00)-

Crow Be Gone

And other suggestions: http://www.ehow.com/tips_437_2.html

( I like the idea of using balloons, you can use marker to draw eyes on them,

if they're hanging from a tree, they'll move at the slightest breeze, and if blown real big,

they'd probably pop once in a while which could be really helpful too.)

The colours in my garden right now:

Yellow, white/peach daffodils, red, yellow & red/yellow tulips and

white, purple, pink/yellow primroses are all in full bloom right now.

Our star magnolia is just starting to drop numerous pink petals, and my

other magnolia has about 9 big blossoms just starting to open, ( it had 5 last

year).

Enjoy the season,

Angie